A 7360: Authorizes a thirty year retirement benefit for certain members in Nassau county; provides a retirement allowance equal to 60 percent of a member's final average salary.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7360 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY March 25, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PHEFFER AMATO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Governmental Employees AN ACT to amend the retirement and social security law, in relation to authorizing a thirty year retirement benefit for certain members in Nassau county The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions c, g and h of section 89-g of the retirement 2 and social security law, as added by chapter 653 of the laws of 1988 and 3 such section as renumbered by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, are 4 amended to read as follows: 5 c. (1) Upon completion of twenty-five years of such service and upon 6 retirement, each such member shall receive a pension which, together 7 with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent of [his] such 8 member's accumulated contributions at the time of [his] such member's 9 retirement and an additional pension which is the actuarial equivalent 10 of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] such member 11 may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] such member 12 with a retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] such member's 13 final average salary. 14 (2) For a member employed by Nassau county with a title of correction 15 recruit, correction officer, correction corporal, correction sergeant, 16 correction lieutenant, or correction captain, upon completion of thirty 17 years of such service and upon retirement, each such member shall 18 receive a pension which, together with an annuity which shall be the 19 actuarial equivalent of such member's accumulated contributions at the 20 time of such member's retirement and an additional pension which is the 21 actuarial equivalent of the reserved-for-increased-take-home-pay to 22 which such member may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide 23 such member with a retirement allowance equal to sixty percent of such 24 member's final average salary. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09321-03-5 
 A. 7360 2 1 g. A member, contributing on the basis of this section at the time of 2 retirement, shall retire after the completion of twenty-five years or 3 thirty years of total creditable service. Application therefor may be 4 filed in a manner similar to that provided in section seventy of this 5 article. Upon completion of twenty-five years or thirty years of such 6 service and upon retirement, each such member shall receive a pension 7 which, together with an annuity which shall be the actuarial equivalent 8 of [his] such member's accumulated contributions at the time of [his] 9 such member's retirement and an additional pension which is the actuari- 10 al equivalent of the reserve-for-increased-take-home-pay to which [he] 11 such member may then be entitled shall be sufficient to provide [him] 12 such member with a retirement allowance equal to one-half of [his] such 13 member's final average salary for a member retiring after the completion 14 of twenty-five years of such service, or a retirement allowance equal to 15 sixty percent of such member's final average salary for a member retir- 16 ing after the completion of thirty years of such service. 17 h. In computing the twenty-five years or thirty years of total service 18 of a member pursuant to this section full credit shall be given and full 19 allowance shall be made for service of such member in time of war after 20 World War I as defined in section two of this chapter, provided such 21 member at the time of [his] such member's entrance into the armed forces 22 was in the service of the county of Nassau. 23 § 2. Subdivision e of section 604 of the retirement and social securi- 24 ty law, as amended by chapter 771 of the laws of 1988, is amended to 25 read as follows: 26 e. 1. The early service retirement for a member who is employed in 27 Nassau county as a correction officer, uniformed correction division 28 personnel, sheriff, undersheriff or deputy sheriff, as defined in 29 section eighty-nine-g of this chapter, shall be a pension equal to one- 30 fiftieth of final average salary times years of credited service at the 31 completion of twenty-five years of service as such correction officer, 32 uniformed correction division personnel, sheriff, undersheriff or deputy 33 sheriff, but not exceeding one-half of [his or her] such member's final 34 average salary. 35 2. The early service retirement for a member who is employed by Nassau 36 county with a title of correction recruit, correction officer, 37 correction corporal, correction sergeant, correction lieutenant, or 38 correction captain, shall be a pension equal to one-fiftieth of final 39 average salary times years of credited service at the completion of 40 thirty years of service as such correction officer, but not exceeding 41 sixty percent of such member's final average salary. 42 § 3. All past service costs associated with implementing the 43 provisions of this act shall be borne by the county of Nassau and may be 44 amortized over a period of ten years. 45 § 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, none 46 of the provisions of this act shall be subject to the appropriation 47 requirement of section 25 of the retirement and social security law. 48 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all 49 members who retire on or after such date. FISCAL NOTE.--Pursuant to Legislative Law, Section 50: This bill would modify the service retirement benefit for members of the New York State and Local Employees' Retirement System employed by Nassau County in certain correction officer titles. The modified service retirement benefit will be one-half of final average salary (FAS) upon completion of twenty-five years of creditable service and sixty percent of FAS upon completion of thirty years of creditable service. The 
 A. 7360 3 current service retirement benefit is one-half of FAS upon completion of twenty-five years of creditable service. If this bill is enacted during the 2025 Legislative Session, we antic- ipate that there will be an increase of approximately $390,000 in the annual contributions of Nassau County for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026. In future years this cost will vary but is expected to average 0.3% of salary annually. In addition to the annual contributions discussed above, there will be an immediate past service cost of approximately $5.50 million which will be borne by Nassau County as a one-time payment. This estimate assumes that payment will be made on February 1, 2026. If Nassau County elects to amortize this cost over a 10-year period, the cost for each year including interest would be $703,000. These estimated costs are based on 713 affected members employed by Nassau County, with annual salary of approximately $90.5 million as of March 31, 2024. Thirteen members currently covered under section 89-g under a legacy title of uniformed correction division personnel are not expected to be covered under this legislation. Summary of relevant resources: Membership data as of March 31, 2024 was used in measuring the impact of the proposed change, the same data used in the April 1, 2024 actuari- al valuation. Distributions and other statistics can be found in the 2024 Report of the Actuary and the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report. The actuarial assumptions and methods used are described in the 2024 Annual Report to the Comptroller on Actuarial Assumptions, and the Codes, Rules and Regulations of the State of New York: Audit and Control. The Market Assets and GASB Disclosures are found in the March 31, 2024 New York State and Local Retirement System Financial Statements and Supplementary Information. This fiscal note does not constitute a legal opinion on the viability of the proposed change nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for the professional judgment of an attorney. This estimate, dated March 12, 2025, and intended for use only during the 2025 Legislative Session, is Fiscal Note No. 2025-79. As Chief Actu- ary of the New York State and Local Retirement System, I, Aaron Schottin Young, hereby certify that this analysis complies with applicable Actu- arial Standards of Practice as well as the Code of Professional Conduct and Qualification Standards for Actuaries Issuing Statements of Actuari- al Opinion of the American Academy of Actuaries, of which I am a member.